Showing posts with label Court. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Court. Show all posts

Thursday, April 2, 2026

Court Watch, Part V.

 Expect a major hissy fit.


I think we can confidently assume this project is dead, and that some lesser more useful construction will take place after Trump is out of office.

The judge ruled that the plaintiff was likely to prevail as the administration likely lacks the authority they tried to exercise here.

They should refund the money and Trump should pay for this destruction himself.

April 1, 2026

Trump's executive order on mail voting is set to face legal challenges

April 2, 2026

From the CST:


Basically the judge decided the issues in the two matters weren't sufficiently identical for consolidation.

On other matters:
Lex Anteinternet: Courthouses of the West: Donald Trump attends oral...: Courthouses of the West: Donald Trump attends oral arguments in Trump v. Ba... : That's the birthright citizenship case. Trump's goi...
I posted this yesterday.

Courthouses of the West: Donald Trump attends oral arguments in Trump v. Barbara

Courthouses of the West: Donald Trump attends oral arguments in Trump v. Ba...: That's the birthright citizenship case. Trump's going to lose this case, which will be another example of the wheels coming off of h...

Donald Trump attends oral arguments in Trump v. Barbara.

That's the birthright citizenship case.

Trump's going to lose this case, which will be another example of the wheels coming off of his administration.  His presence at the Court will not impress anyone, let alone the Justices. Trump seems to have lost any sense that he's not that impressive to about 70% of Americans.

His attendance is, frankly, appalling.

Cont (April 1, 2026)

JUSTICE NEIL GORSUCH: Do you think Native Americans today are birthright citizens under your test and under your friend's test?

D. JOHN SAUER, U.S. SOLICITOR GENERAL: I think so. I mean, obviously, they've been granted citizenship by statute ...

GORSUCH: Put aside the statute. Do you think they're birthright citizens?

SAUER: No, I think the clear understanding that everybody agrees in the congressional debates is that the children of tribal Indians are not birthright citizens.

GORSUCH: I understand that's what they said. But your test is the domicile of the parents, and that would be the test you'd have us apply today, right?

SAUER: Yes, yes. So, if a tribal Indian, for example, you know, gives up allegiance to ...

GORSUCH: Are tribal members born today birthright citizens?

SAUER: I think so, on our test, if they're lawfully domiciled here. I'm not s—, I have to think that through, but that's my reaction.

GORSUCH: I'll take the yes. That's alright.

Gee Louise, this administration is really something. 

It turns out that Trump left after Justice Jackson pretty much eviscerated the solicitor, D. John Sauer, who was sent to argue this.  Sauer's career really ought to be over for such a lame argument that was so obviously legal deficient.  He's a former Missouri solicitor and, more important, one of the lawyers who was willing to represent Trump in the past.

Last edition:

Court Watch, Part IV.

Wednesday, April 1, 2026

Courthouses of the West: Donald Trump attends oral arguments in Trump v. Barbara

Courthouses of the West: Donald Trump attends oral arguments in Trump v. Ba...: That's the birthright citizenship case. Trump's going to lose this case, which will be another example of the wheels coming off of h...

Donald Trump attends oral arguments in Trump v. Barbara.

That's the birthright citizenship case.

Trump's going to lose this case, which will be another example of the wheels coming off of his administration.  His presence at the Court will not impress anyone, let alone the Justices. Trump seems to have lost any sense that he's not that impressive to about 70% of Americans.

His attendance is, frankly, appalling.

Cont (April 1, 2026)

JUSTICE NEIL GORSUCH: Do you think Native Americans today are birthright citizens under your test and under your friend's test?

D. JOHN SAUER, U.S. SOLICITOR GENERAL: I think so. I mean, obviously, they've been granted citizenship by statute ...

GORSUCH: Put aside the statute. Do you think they're birthright citizens?

SAUER: No, I think the clear understanding that everybody agrees in the congressional debates is that the children of tribal Indians are not birthright citizens.

GORSUCH: I understand that's what they said. But your test is the domicile of the parents, and that would be the test you'd have us apply today, right?

SAUER: Yes, yes. So, if a tribal Indian, for example, you know, gives up allegiance to ...

GORSUCH: Are tribal members born today birthright citizens?

SAUER: I think so, on our test, if they're lawfully domiciled here. I'm not s—, I have to think that through, but that's my reaction.

GORSUCH: I'll take the yes. That's alright.

Gee Louise, this administration is really something. 

Tuesday, March 31, 2026

Chiles v. Salazar.

A victory for free speech, rational thought, and science.

Only one dissenting vote.

Only the synopsis is provided.





Saturday, February 21, 2026

Friday, February 20, 2026

Lex Anteinternet: Supreme Court strikes down tariffs

Lex Anteinternet: Supreme Court strikes down tariffs:   Supreme Court strikes down tariffs It's patently obvious that the tariffs in question were illegal.  What wasn't obvious is that t...

So, a few things.

The Supreme Court ruling eliminates the 10% baseline tariff, the drug trafficking tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, and the 145% effective rate on most Chinese goods.

Pretty predictable.

Trump of course is having a petty fit, running around calling people names, and the like.

Truth be known, while this is the right decision, and it is a blow to Trump, it probably saves him from being blamed for a tariff caused disaster.

Wednesday, February 18, 2026

Monday, February 18, 1946 The Royal Indian Navy Mutiny breaks out.

The Royal Indian Navy Mutiny began at the port of Colaba.  It was the first mutiny in British India since 1857.

The mutiny started over inadequate food.  It would rapidly spread.

Pope Pius XII announced the appointment of 32 new cardinals.  The Rocky Mountain News had an article about it.


A California Federal Court held that segregation of schools in California was unconstitutional.

President Truman signed the Rescission Act of 1946 reducing (rescinding) the amounts of certain funds already designated for specific government programs, much of it for the U.S. military.

$200 million previously appropriated to the U.S. Army for ordnance service and supplies was transferred to the Army of the Philippines by way of the act.

Eisenhower was in Denver.


Last edition:

Saturday, February 16, 1946. Potato consumption. Frozen food. Helicopters.

Court Watch, Part IV.

Weston County, Wyoming, courthouse.

The Justice Department has sued California to block new congressional district boundaries approved by California voters last week.

It's leaving the Texas crap districts alone, however.

In Utah, a Court blocked an effort to prevent their new commission designed districts, which features, gasp, a Democratic seat.

Cont:

Trump ordered the Justice Department to investigate links Jeffrey Epstein had to prominent Democrats and institutions including former President Bill Clinton and former treasury secretary, Larry Summers. Read as he bounces off the wall in panic like a grade school dodge ball.  Bondi, of course, a loyal sycophant, appointed a prosecutor.

November 15, 2025

Wyoming Supreme Court Pauses Judge's Order For More School Counselors, Computers


 November 17, 2025


* * *



The judge is clearly signaling that this case is well on the way towards being dismissed.

November 18, 2025

A Federal Court in Texas has blocked the state from using its recently redrawn Congressional District map.

Oops.

This will be appealed, but if the decision is upheld it would mean that the five GOP (probably) seats that the state added won't be, while California, in a recent election, added five.

Oops.

Additionally, early indicators are that Texas Hispanics are following the national tread and are becoming disenchanted with the GOP, so some Texas districts may swing Democratic on their own.

Oops.

All of this could mean that the 2026 election could see the House not only swing Democratic, but perhaps massively so, and that some of the Returning Republicans are no longer big fans of Trump, to which those survivors will be reassessing their loyalty to Trump.

November 21, 2015

Sen. Elissa Slotkin, Sen. Mark Kelly, and Reps. Jason Crow, Chris Deluzio, Maggie Goodlander and Chrissy Houlahan, all veterans, released  a video urging member of the armed forces not to follow illegal orders.  Donald Trump is now threatening them with prosecution for sedition, and the death penalty, which is ironic, as Trump is a seditionist.

A Federal Court ordered the illegal Trump deployment of National Guardsmen to Washington D.C. to come to an end.

November 24, 2025

The North Dakota Supreme Court upheld the state's abortion ban, causing abortion to again become illegal in the state.

cont:

Federal criminal indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James were dismissed after a finding the prosecutor was not lawfully appointed.

December 3, 2025

Two well known names from the state's Republican politics.

December 4, 2025

Family of Colombian man killed in U.S. strike files human rights challenge

December 5, 2025

Headline in CST:

Court allows Texas maps

A Federal grand jury declined to indict New York Attorney General Letitia James on mortgage fraud.

December 12, 2025

The DOJ failed a second time to indict Letitia James

cont:

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has sued to stop construction of the giant White House ballroom.

December 16, 2025

December 18, 2025

December 29, 20205

Sued For Defamation, Former State Senator Says WyoFile Should Be Sued Too  

December 31, 2025

Deposition testimony of Jack Smith.

From the deposition:

President Trump was by a large measure the most culpable and most responsible person in this conspiracy. These crimes were committed for his benefit. The attack that happened at the Capitol…does not happen without him.

January 6, 2026

The big news, of course, is that an illegitimate foreign head of state has been indicted in the United States brought here in a raid by an illegitimate head of state who has experience with the criminal justice system himself.

Total bogosity.

In other news, and in more bogosity of a sorts, the National Rifle Association is suing the NRA Foundation, a trust that benefits the NRA in what partially can be attributed to an ongoing inter NRA feud.

That things were going wrong at the NRA was pretty evident for quite some time.  Things are still going wrong at the NRA.  The organization was run for decades by Wayne LaPierre who followed in the footsteps of Haron Carter in fundamentally changing the organization.

Carter rose to power in the organization in 1977.  Prior to that date the organization had been agnostic on gun control. Following that it moved to being an ardent opponent.

It was under Wayne LaPierre, however, that the organization became radical, frequently using extreme claims to raise funds.  His personal life a bit of a mystery, but he was undoubtedly successful in building up the NRA which became effectively a fundraising arm of the Republican Party, which it remains in spite of LaPierre's fall in a corruption trial.  While LaPierre is gone, the current NRA maintains the script, even though its numbers are falling dramatically off.  It will, for instance, no longer issue a print edition of the American Rifleman starting this year.

What exactly this trial entials I don't know.  It'll be interesting to watch.  It's already accused the Foundation of being run by the disgruntled.

At any rate, while NRA concerns about gun control were well placed into the 1990s, the supposed threats they posed were really waning by late in that decade and the organization has been crying wolf for years.  Gun owners know that and have been dropping out of it, tired of the message that Stalingrad is right around the corner.  Moderate Republicans who are horrified by Trump have not been impressed with NRA's ongoing drumbeat for him.  The LaPierre tactics that lead to its rise, and fall, foreshadowed the rise and tactics of MAGA to some degree, and like a lot of things touched by Trump, the organization appears to be dying.  In recent years, it's support for Trump have lead to claims of hypocrisy by some on the left.

A sad thing is that the NRA really does do some very important firearms work.  It supports shooting programs, matches and range safety in a major way.  There's nothing to replace it in these areas.

January 8, 2026

Wyoming Attorney General To Ask For One Last Chance To Defend Abortion Bans

January 10, 2026

Weston County clerk subpoena was valid, court filings argue: The Natrona County District Attorney maintains the Wyoming Legislature was acting in its legal authority.

Odd news here:

Casper Man Pleads Guilty To Making Violent Threats Against Jewish Organization

January 13, 2026

Sen. Mark Kelly has filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to reverse Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s letter of censure and effort to potentially demote him.  Kelly will win the suit.

January 17, 2026

I have to wonder if this:

Will influence the United States Supreme Court, which is about to rule on the legality of Trump's tariffs.  A sane ruling would strike them down as illegal.  If they were thinking of supporting them, as of right now they knew that Donald Trump is Bat Shit Crazy and ought to be reined in with a curb bit until he gags.

He's nuts.

Maybe this will influence the Court.

February 18, 2026


Basically, the Trump Administration has been white washing history displays at the parks, part of both a MAGA knee jerk and National Conservative agenda.

Last edition:

Court Watch, Part III.

Labels: 

Sunday, February 8, 2026

Playing stupid games on health care and winning stupid prizes on abortion.

 

Exactly what backers of Art 1  § 38 should have known would occur. Lampoon posted under fair use exception as I couldn't think of a more applicable illustration.

Wyoming Constitution Art. 1, § 38. Right of health care access

(a) Each competent adult shall have the right to make his or her own health care decisions. The parent, guardian or legal representative of any other natural person shall have the right to make health care decisions for that person.

(b) Any person may pay, and a health care provider may accept, direct payment for health care without imposition of penalties or fines for doing so.

(c) The legislature may determine reasonable and necessary restrictions on the rights granted under this section to protect the health and general welfare of the people or to accomplish the other purposes set forth in the Wyoming Constitution.

(d) The state of Wyoming shall act to preserve these rights from undue governmental infringement.

Jonathan Lange: The Supreme Court Owes Us An Explanation

Hmm, depends a bit on how he voted on the dumbass Art. 1, § 38..

'Lange has a point, as much as I hate to admit it. But the party that really owes the state an explanation is the paranoid sots who backed the Constitutional amendment set out above from 2024, and those who voted for it, about a right to make your own medical decisions, which you already had, as they feared AHCA meant death panels.

That was freakin' absurd.

Lange, did you vote for it?

This was really predictable. That set it up.  It was obvious.

Nobody is more opposed to abortion, which I regard as infanticide, than me.  Indeed, my views in this general area are probably far more "conservative" than most peoples.  

And to extend it, I'm not in favor of the death penalty either.

And, no, I don't think abortion is health care by a long measure, but if this hadn't been passed, the question would never have come up.

But to set this in the constitution of the state, what the crap did you think would happen?  It puts the court in the place of making an existential decision.

A really easy one to make, in my view, but if you take my view, on natural rights, a lot of right wingers wouldn't be very comfortable, very soon.

Friday, January 23, 2026

Wyoming Board of Equalization volleys on the residential property tax cap.

First: 

Wyoming Board of Equalization readies lawsuit challenging residential property tax cap: A complaint, expected Jan. 22, will argue the law, which the Legislature adopted in 2024, is unconstitutional. 

 And then:

Gordon quashes Board of Equalization lawsuit against property tax cap: The move by the governor comes a day after WyoFile reported that the board was planning to mount a legal challenge against another state agency.

I wonder if this is really over? 

Monday, November 10, 2025

Court Watch, Part III.



This is the U.S. Federal Building & Courthouse in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.  This building, built in 1960s, is s survivor of the brutal domestic terrorist attack that wrecked the Murrah building that was across from it.  A memorial to the victims of that attack is now located there, across from the courthouse.




Oklahoma City U.S. Federal Building & Courthouse, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.  Bombed by a guy whose views were regarded as extreme at the time, but which would be regarded as solidly MAGA today.

August 27, 2025

The Trump Administration's moronic lawsuit against Maryland's Federal Bench was tossed out.

There's no surprise to this at all.

On a locally controversial matter:

University of Wyoming sorority free to admit who it wants, including transgender students, judge rules: The 2023 federal complaint against Kappa Kappa Gamma for welcoming a transgender woman was dismissed Friday for the second time.

This puts the Wyoming Federal Court basically at odds with the direction of the Trump Administration as well. 

August 30, 2025

Well, there's absolutely no surprise.  Trump's illegal tariffs were affirmed to be illegal.

D'uh.

The Court's decision starts:

The Government appeals a decision of the Court of International Trade setting aside five Executive Orders that imposed tariffs of unlimited duration on nearly all goods from nearly every country in the world, holding that the tariffs were not authorized by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), 50 U.S.C. § 1701 et seq. Because we agree that IEEPA’s grant of presidential authority to “regulate” imports does not authorize the tariffs imposed by the Executive Orders, we affirm.

Even here, however, the Court granted a stay of thirty days on the implementation of its order, which a private litigant would be unlikely to have received, and the government shouldn't have received here.  The order should have gone into effect immediately absent the government posting a bond to cover the damages, which would be all the tariffs collected while the matter was on appeal, and all that it has already collected, which should need to be fully refunded.

But a refund won't happen and the implementation of the ruling is delayed by 30 days, so the government can appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which doesn't actually have to take the appeal.

Whether the S.Ct upholds it, or proves to be a pure political arm of the government, is another matter.

There were three dissents in the en banc decision.

September 3, 2025

A Federal Court has ruled Trump's deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles to be illegal.

September 17, 2025

Wyoming Sorority Members Not Giving Up Legal Case Over Transgender Member

September 26, 2025

In an act that's outrageous, former FBI Director James Comey has been indicted by a grand jury on two out of the three charges the government brought before it.

The Trump administration, and hence the Republican Party, has gone over to outright fascism with acts of this type.   The test now is whether the Courts can withstand the onslaught.  

October 1, 2025

Judge Says Ousted UW Dean Can Keep Suing For ‘Retaliation’ Demotion

October 13, 2025

In addition to Comey, now Letitia James has been indicted.  More such indictments are apparently coming.

Trump's efforts to deploy the National Guard into cities is universally failing in the Courts.

Comey is being prosecuted for lying to Congress, which Pam Bondi just did herself.


October 16, 2025

And now John Bolton has been charged with eight counts of unlawful transmission of national defense information and 10 counts of unlawful retention of national defense information by a grand jury.

The Department of Justice has become a department of persecution for Trump.  It'll take years to undo the damage that has been done.  Moreover, because of the extent of this, it's my prediction that many who are now involved in these Trump efforts will face bar sanctions, and likely some prosecutions, in the future.

October 17, 2025

An Illinois court ordered ICE agents to wear body cameras.

October 25, 2025

Way milder than it could have been, but at least somebody tried to do something:

If the TRO is granted, construction will stop, but I would have asked for the structure to have been returned to the status quo ante.

October 29, 2025
November 10, 2025

The Supreme Court rejected a petition for a writ of certiorari by a court clerk which would have presented an opportunity to overrule Obergefell.

Last edition

Court Watch, Part II.